Canada’s religious freedom envoy denounces treatment of Rohingya Muslims
Arakan News Agency OTTAWA — Canada’s religious freedom ambassador denounced Wednesday the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar and urged Canadian businesses eager to find opportunities in that resource-rich country to respect human rights. Ambassador Andrew Bennett said he also delivered his concerns about the well-document persecution of the Rohingya Muslim population directly to Myanmar government […]
30 more migrant graves discovered in South
Arakan News Agency Police found 30 new graves at an old, unused Muslim burial ground inside an abandoned detention camp for illegal Rohingya migrants in Hat Yai district, Songkhla, on Thursday morning. The graveyard is at Ban Chalung village in tambon Chalung, Hat Yai. Villagers said it had been unused for nearly 40 years and […]
Activists: More Work Needed to Bust Rohingya Trafficking Ring
Arakan News Agency Thailand’s recent effort to uncover a massive human-trafficking network is a step in the right direction, according to rights groups, which have long criticized the kingdom for failing to combat the thriving people-smuggling business within its borders. But anti-trafficking activists say more regional efforts are needed to help end what appears to […]
ASEAN Marginalization towards Rohingya issue
Arakan News Agency It raised the marginalization of the Association of ASEAN summit towards the issue of Rohingya in Myanmar despite dismay of many observers, especially the political and media elite of Muslims, who denounced this marginalization and calling a private investigation with the presence of Muslim countries at the summit. The congress chairman of […]
Preventing genocide in Myanmar requires keeping the pressure on: editorial
Arakan News Agency Tough sanctions, relentless pressure on its military dictators and worldwide support for charismatic political dissident Aung San Suu Kyi finally prodded Myanmar, the Southeast Asian country also known as Burma, to embrace democracy in 2012. As President Barack Obama put it during a 2012 visit to Myanmar, “To those who cling to […]
Tenaganita: Malaysians likely behind Southern Thai mass grave
Arakan News Agency KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Malaysians were very likely linked to the human trafficking syndicate behind the mass grave uncovered in Southern Thailand last week, civil society Tenaganita claimed today. In its statement quoted by English portal The Star Online, the group said that many Muslim Rohingyas and Myanmar refugees had admitted […]
Meeting in Naypyidaw to discuss green cards for Arakan Muslims
Arakan News Agency The government has asked representatives from the Rohingya Muslim community in the state capital Akyab to prepare for a meeting in the capital Naypyidaw. The meeting will discuss the issue of Rohingya citizenship. Sources in Akyab say that Rohingyas will be offered the green card, i.e. referring to foreigners who have naturalised […]
Senior US diplomat discuss elections with Myanmar speaker
Arakan News Agency The second-ranking U.S. diplomat has discussed with Myanmar’s parliament speaker elections due this fall and Washington’s concerns over legislation that could discriminate against minorities. Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met Monday with speaker Shwe Mann, who was a top figure in the former ruling junta and is vying to become the […]
Accident victim dies as ‘hospital refuses treatment’
Arakan News Agency A Rohingya Muslim died from injuries sustained from a motorbike accident amidst allegations that Maungdaw hospital authorities have let him die without treatment. Maulavi Ismail s/o Master Md Hossain was returning from Maungdaw to his home in Nolboinna when his bike lost tract on the hilly terrain. He was rushed to the […]
Trafficking crackdown poses new dangers for victims
Arakan News Agency The two boys in the back of the police pickup truck were terrified. Dressed in ragged clothes, they had been caught close to a remote people-smugglers’ camp in in a Songkhla province jungle where authorities found the remains of 26 people in shallow graves last week. “When the police raided the camp […]
Six police officers transferred pending investigation into hidden Rohingya graves.
Arakan News Agency Royal Thai Police Commissioner Somyot Pumpanmuang would reportedly transfer the commander of Satun Provincial Police and five other policemen at Padang Besa sub-district in Sadao district of Songkhla in connection with the discovery of 26 graves of Rohingya migrants. Police General Somyot met with authorities in Songkhla on Monday over the hidden […]
Rohingya woman tells of fleeing trafficking camp
Arakan News Agency Khatun, 25, fled jungle camp in Thailand close to where mass migrant grave of Rohingya, Bangladeshis was discovered. A Muslim Rohingya woman allegedly held captive and tortured in a Thai jungle camp has told local media that the last time she saw her child was when the chance came to escape. “They […]
UNHCR calls for joint response in wake of “Rohingya mass grave” in Thailand
Arakan News Agency BANGKOK, May 6 – The UN refugee agency is deeply concerned at this week’s discovery of dozens of bodies in smugglers’ camps in southern Thailand. The agency calls on countries in the region to strengthen cooperation on counter-smuggling and counter-trafficking measures while ensuring the protection of victims. In recent days Thai authorities […]